PSA screening rates are not adjusted; because the measure is already restricted by age and sex, statistical adjustments to correct for underlying population differences are not relevant.

DENOMINATOR DEFINITION:

The denominator consisted of male Medicare enrollees age 75-99 on January 1, 2012 who were eligible for Medicare Parts A and B and not enrolled in risk-bearing HMOs at any time during the year. Excluded from the analysis were men who had a PSA test for a presumed screening indication, men who had any history of prostate disease (prostate cancer, prostate surgery, or diagnosis of elevated PSA in the prior three years), and men who had prostate cancer-like symptoms in the three months before a PSA test based on diagnostic codes billed on visits and hospitalizations.

NUMERATOR DEFINITION:

PSA screening was defined as any, but only one occurrence per patient during 2012 of CPT codes G0103 and 84153.

The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care is based at The Dartmouth Institute for Health
Policy and Clinical Practice and is supported by a coalition of funders led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
including the WellPoint Foundation, the United Health Foundation, the California HealthCare Foundation, and the Charles H. Hood Foundation.